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20100105

Zuma wedding ‘out of dark ages’

‘Alarming return to ancestral worship is a giant step back into the dark ages…’

Durban - The leader of the Christian Democratic Party has described President Jacob Zuma's traditional wedding on Monday as a "giant step back into the dark ages". Zuma's wedding "to a woman he is reported to have already fathered three children with, and the alarming return to ancestral worship is a giant step back into the dark ages," said CDP leader Reverend Theunis Botha, left.

Picture right: Zuma married his fifth wife, Thobeka Madiba - captured attending Parliament last year with Zuma, by Associated Press photographer Mike Hutchings - on Monday afternoon in a colourful traditional wedding which attracted scores of guests and media.

Botha has become increasingly critical of Zuma ‘s messages of violence in his public statements over the past few years; and recently also slammed the ANC leadership for its unsuccessful attempts to get the SA Council of Churches alligned inside the ANC-structures; (Rev Botha can be reached by email headoffice@cdp.org.za) 'Traditions plagued Africa'”…The same ancestral traditions had plagued Africa in the past and… had kept it [Africa] in superstition and poverty, and not colonialism as some people believed,” Botha said, who also is the acting chairman of the Christian Democratic Alliance.

"Very little has been done since ‘independence’ in the way of development, with few that do not rely on handouts, especially from the West," he said. It was up to the churches to speak out about ancestral worship practices, Botha said. "Political parties doing so, when the churches are silent, are exposing themselves to undue criticism of being anti-black or racist," said Botha.

Three large tents were erected for the "udendwe" wedding ceremony in Zuma's rural homestead in Nkandla, KwaZulu. During the service, his 37-year-old bride Thobeka Madiba was introduced to the tribal elders as well to the ancestors, two years after 67-year-old Zuma paid a bride’s wealth dowry to her family, a gift known as "ilobolo". Several sheep, goats and cows have already been sacrificed while alive.

The president's other wives are Sizakele Khumalo, whom he married in 1973, and Nompumelelo MaNtuli-Zuma, whom he married in 2007. He was previously married to current Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, whom he divorced in 1998, and Kate Mantsho Zuma, who committed suicide in 2000.

Eighteen childrenZuma is the father of 18 children. He is also engaged to Gloria Bongi Ngema from Durban. Her family has already presented umbondo (gifts) to the Zuma family at the end of December. Umbondo is the last Zulu traditional ceremony before the wedding. It was done after ilobolo ( bride’s wealth) had been paid. It was not known when Zuma would tie the knot with Ngema.

The term "genocide" was coined by legal scholar Raphael Lemkin in 1943, writing:

'Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actionsaiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves.

The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of personal security, liberty, health, dignity and lives of the members of such groups... '